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STATEMENT OF FAITH
GOD
We believe that there is but one true and living God. He is almighty,
sovereign, eternal, unchanging, inexpressibly Holy, gracious, merciful,
infinite, perfect and just. God is omniscient, omnipotent and
omnipresent and exists in three persons - Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Being the Maker and Ruler of all things He deserves all praise and glory
forever.
THE SCRIPTURES
We believe that God's greatness and Holiness are such that without His
aid man can neither understand God nor find the way to a right
relationship with Him. In His mercy, however, God has made Himself
known. He has done this partially through creation, but explicitly
through the Old and New Testaments of the Bible. We, therefore. accept
all that was written in the Bible as not merely containing, but being
the inspired and infallible Word of God and the final and sufficient
authority in all matters of Christian faith, doctrine and conduct and
the true basis of Christian union.
THE TRINITY
We believe that in the unity of the Godhead there are three persons, of
one substance, power and eternity, God the Father, God the Son and God
the Holy Spirit. The Father is of none, neither begotten, nor
proceeding; the Son is eternally begotten of the Father; the Holy Spirit
eternally proceeding from the Father and the Son. This doctrine of the
Trinity is the foundation of all our communion with God and dependence
upon Him.
MAN THE SINNER
We believe that God created man, perfect in His own image, but being
tempted by the Devil, man, by his own free choice, disobeyed God and
became a sinner, guilty, and totally depraved before God. Man's whole
nature is now perverted by sin and his fellowship with God is broken,
thereby incurring physical, spiritual and eternal death.
JESUS THE SAVIOUR
We believe God alone can deal with man's sin and bring about a
reconciliation to Himself. To achieve this God became man in Jesus
Christ. Jesus was eternally existent with the Father in his preincarnate
Glory. He was conceived of the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary,
lived a sinless, human life and taught entirely without error. He
suffered and died in the place of sinners, bearing their sin, its guilt
and punishment. By His death and the shedding of His blood "He made one
sacrifice for sin forever". Thus He sets all believers free from the
domination of the devil and the corruption of their own sinful nature
and removes from them sin's lasting consequences.
SALVATION
We believe that Salvation is by the Grace of God. God, in His Grace,
forgives and reconciles to Himself all who turn to Him in true
repentance and who trust in Christ's atoning death. Salvation is by
faith alone in the all-sufficient sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ.
God imputes to all who believe the righteousness of Christ Him self and
adopts them as His own Children.
THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST
We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ was shown to be the Son of God by
His miracles and by His bodily Resurrection from the dead. He has
ascended in power and glory to the presence of God, where He now pleads
on behalf of those who call upon Him in truth.
THE HOLY SPIRIT
We believe that God, the Holy Spirit, must work in man before he can
enter into Salvation. He leads the sinner to an awareness of his
sinfulness and brings him to repentance and trust in Christ. He brings
to birth in him a new and eternal life. The Holy Spirit convicts and
regenerates the sinner and sanctifies, illuminates and comforts those
who believe in Christ. It is the work of the Holy Spirit to develop in
the believer's life the fruits of love and holiness.
THE SECOND COMING
We believe in the personal, imminent, bodily and glorious return of the
Lord Jesus Christ; in the resurrection of the just and unjust; in the
eternal blessedness of the redeemed and in the judgement and conscious
eternal punishment of the wicked.
SATAN
We believe that Satan exists as an evil person, that he is the
originator of sin, the arch enemy of God and man, the deceiver and
enslaver of mankind and is set for the ultimate damnation of every
person. We believe that Satan and his angels will be committed to the
eternal lake of fire.
THE LORD'S DAY
We believe that the first day of the week is the Lord's Day and that, in
a special sense, it is the divinely appointed day of worship and
spiritual exercise. It should not be desecrated but should be kept holy
in accordance with the Word of God.
THE ONE CHURCH
We believe that all who have been redeemed with the precious blood of
Christ and upon whom God has bestowed His righteousness as a free gift
belongs to Christ. They alone are rightly called Christians. They alone
are members of the one universal and eternal Church of Christ.
THE LOCAL CHURCH
We believe that each local Church is a fellowship of believers, called
out from the world, separated unto the Lord Jesus, voluntarily
associated for the ministry of God's Word, the mutual edification of its
members, the propagation of the Gospel and the administration of the
ordinances. We believe it is an independent body, exercising its own
divinely awarded gifts, precepts and principles under the Lordship of
Christ, the great Head of the Church. The local Church has no need of,
nor should acknowledge, any other authority than His. We believe in the
entire separation of Church and State. |